Sophie can be both frustrating and sweet.
Let's start with catching.... sometimes if her mood is right I can just walk up to her and catch her, but mostly it's like this.
She makes me work for it!
Then there is how she is when she's at liberty vs. in hand.
Once she is caught she's a different horse. All sweet and willing. I kinda was worried about those big moves she makes, and I hope she doesn't do them under saddle. It's a big part of the reason I haven't ridden her out by myself yet, I want to wait until I can get someone to come with me; discretion is the better part of valor. And I have nothing to prove to anyone. So I will bide my time and hope the snow and ice go away soon and I can get someone to go on a little trail ride with me.
So for now, I catch her, love up on her, brush her and let her stand tied for a bit before putting her back in her pen.
This photo cracks me up, it looks like the speed swing (machinery in the background) is a toy sitting on her back!
By the way, she has never offered to pull back other than when she was loaded in the trailer when I bought her. But then, I haven't hauled her since then so it will be interesting to see how she handles being loaded and hauled. Hopefully, soon.
8 comments:
That is weird. At first, as I was reading your post, I thought she sounds just like Foxy. When we first got her, she pulled back in the trailer hard, and all the way out. She's a big horse, and that was scary. She did it one more time, and then I started to load her with someone else behind to close the doors, give me time to tie her solid and close the divider, and she never did it again. She also has always been hard to catch. For a long time, I was the only one who could catch her. Then she'd be golden. We rode her a lot at home, and she did very well. Out on the trail, with unfamiliar horses in a group, she jigged. When she'd ride with a herd mate she was golden again. Like the best trail horse ever. I don't understand the flinching and leaving when you touch her from the other side. That's a new one. I think it's smart to wait and ride with a friend. It will happen soon enough!
I have a 37 yr old mule that does the same thing! But once caught you can do anything you wish to him.
I think he believes human are just HIS to mess with.
I had a mare like that too and her mule foals turned out to be very attached to humans.
She is beautiful.
I'd go riding with you! LOL. I am in the same pickle, most of the time I cannot get anyone to ride with me.
My grandkids used to ride with me but now they are working and not spending time here.
We rarely have a horse here that’s hard to catch….I think it’s because we always feed them when we put them in the barn and they LOVE they barn.
Interesting...but then horses have great memories and maybe you have to replace the at liberty memory...she is a pretty gal:)
It is very difficult to reprogram ingrained behavior. You are wise to wait for a riding companion.
A wise woman (you) once told me to trust my instincts and my skills when I was warting about some of the big dramatic moves Cat was making on the longe line. I did and she was good, under saddle she is a different creature
She is an interesting puzzle. I wonder if some things are triggering a past reaction. I think taking your time makes the most sense anyway. She learning you can be trusted.
An old horseman once told me "Sometimes they don't it, they don't see the initial reward to that halter, with those horses you need to make the reward known" Honestly I had a mare just like her and rather than be frustrated I started taking a pocket of horse cookies. She is one of the easiest horses I have to catch now and she is not a pest looking for cookies, she only gets one at haltering.
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